Nowadays, energy obtained from fossil fuel, biomass (mainly wood combustion), nuclear energy and hydraulic energy covers worldwide energetic demand in more than 98%, being the fossil fuels used the most since the latter represents 75% of the energy production in the world.
Current energy problems that the World is facing is mainly caused by an increase in the consumption and the known exhaustion of the non-renewable energetic resources like fossil fuels, particularly hydrocarbons, which have been used for energy generation over the years, and it is expected to get totally exhausted within the next 50 or 60 years. It has provoked an increase in the price of oil and oil derivative products never seen before what makes countries to invest large amounts of money for paying their oil invoices.
On the other hand, some investigations have been achieved regarding the use of other alternative energy sources like wind power, solar energy, hydro-electric power, ocean wave energy, or the energy coming from biomass; but they are not efficient due to some factors like limitations in the energy production, technological and implementation costs, and some others of different kinds. Studies have revealed that just 23% of global energy production is out of alternative sources of energy as a consequence of listed limitations. Then, being hydrocarbons the main source to produce energy, their use or exploitation is not efficient since 60-70% of their potentialities are wasted in the energy generation process.
An approach to improve this situation has resulted in the use of inverters; however, this technology has a disadvantage and it is that inverters increase many times the energy consumption in the battery charging process. Energy, due to its own nature, cannot be stored in large amounts or to a large scale, factor that emphasizes the limitation of conventional batteries in the storing process for further use. Other negative aspect regarding inverters is that the useful life of batteries is limited and it is shortened by the conversion process when used associated to inverters.
In the state of the art it is well known inverters are devices that transform alternating current (AC) taken from different input sources into direct current (DC) to convert this energy into stored or potential energy. This stored energy can be used before an alternating current demand since inverters transform stored energy (DC) from batteries into alternating current (AC). There is a considerable energy leak in the process caused by conversion and it brings out negative consequences manifested in the energy consumption increment during charging process; thus, consumption multiplies since inverter's demand is added to energy demand already installed. For example, batteries conceived for providing energy during 1 hour need 2 hours of continuous charging process. During bidirectional energy conversion process (AC-DC and DC-AC) there is an energy leak associated to conversion that is translated into an increase of the consumption. Also, there is another limitation and it is related to the shortened useful life of batteries caused by panel deterioration due to current conversion process and storage time, since constant conversion energy executed by charger provokes a temperature increase what causes damages to the components of batteries and thus reduces the useful life of batteries.
One of the best known applications of inverters is transforming alternating current (AC) from the conventional power supply grid into direct current (DC) to transform it again into alternating current (AC) to provide energy during a black out caused by generation shortfall or damages. In this case inverters are electrical backups providing a limited energy supply regarding the current it can generate and time. However, inverters have started to be used associated to other energy sources like cells, solar panels, wind power generators, and the like; which are alternating current (AC) suppliers, it goes through the conversion process previously described with the characteristics and limitations already mentioned and the inconvenience that not all the energy generated by those devices is used, since the unused energy cannot be stored but it is dissipated.
In relation to battery chargers or battery banks, it is known in the state of the art the patent JP2003299256, publication date 2003 Oct. 17, whose applicant is NTT DATA CORP, which claims an energy charger/discharger that has no leaks during battery charging/discharging process. However, it has an important inconvenience because it does not possess sensor to determine such important parameters like temperature in batteries. Temperature increases due to charging/discharging process what is translated into a reduction of useful life of batteries caused by the action of energy on panels. Also the lack of sensors forbid determining the exact level of energy existing in batteries, added to the fact that the discharging process is slow and there is no counter for the energy flow supplied to batteries.
Similar to the previous one is U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,163, whose applicant is Inco Limited and Norvik Technologies, Inc., which claims a charger for batteries and its main advantage is not having resistance to current what reduces the leak caused by resistance, and also it monitors the charging state to avoid overcharging of batteries. In this case inverters are electrical backups providing a limited supply regarding the current it can generate and time. However, inverters have started to be used associated to other energy sources like cells, solar panels, wind power generators, etc, which are alternating current (AC) supplier, it goes through the conversion process previously described with the characteristics and limitation already mentioned and the inconvenience that not all the energy generated by those devices is used, since the unused energy cannot be stored but it is dissipated.
In relation to battery chargers or battery banks it is known in the state of the art the patent JP 2003299256, publication date 2003 Oct. 17, whose applicant is NTT DATA CORP, which claims an energy charger/discharger that has no leak during the battery changing/discharging process. However, it has an important inconvenience because it does not possess sensor to determine such important parameters like temperature in batteries. Temperature increase due to the charging/discharging process what is translated into a reduction of useful life of battery caused by action of energy on panels. Also the lack of sensors forbid determining the exact levels of energy existing in batteries, added to the fact that the discharging process is slow and there is no counter for the energy flow supplied to batteries.
Similar to the previous U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,163, whose applicant is Inco Limited and Norvik Technologies, Inc., which claims a charger for batteries and its main advantage is the no resistance to current what reduces the leak caused by resistance, and also it monitors the changing state to avoid overcharging of batteries. Nevertheless, it has an important disadvantage: it is unidirectional charger that has no sensor to monitor temperate in batteries, besides it is a charger to be operated with a low energy flow.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,222,343, issued Apr. 24, 2014, whose applicant is Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation, claims a battery charger, a method for charging and software. Its main disadvantage: from an AC source the charger is limited to the demanded energy flow, conversion leak is increased, if the energy flow is higher than the amperage tolerated by the switch, then the charger cannot function. Also the charger has no counter for energy supplied to the batteries and it is not designed to monitor the energy supplied to batteries. In addition to these points, it functions only in one direction.
Other solution to battery chargers is presented by U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,236, issued Jan. 20, 1987, whose applicant is BUSCH & CO INC AG. This patent claims a battery charger that functions with energy available in an electrical lighter of the kind of vehicles. This invention has some disadvantages: a) it is a charger that uses a low energy flow (low amperage), b) a rectifier is needed what makes charging to be slow and to have energy leak during the charging process, c) it is not a bidirectional charger, d) it does not have a counter of supplied current flow, e) charging process parameters are not monitored, f) the local vehicle battery can be discharged if it does not receive a charge from alternator when the local battery is been drained.
In the state of the art it is also known the U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,251, issued on Jun. 2, 1989, whose applicant is MCSORLEY SR HARRY J. This patent claims a system to charge batteries or bank of batteries which has a main disadvantage: energy leak occurs during the energy conversion process, when energy is stored and at the moment of being delivered. Hence, energy leak duplicates. In addition, there is no monitoring of temperature what brings out the risk of panel overheating, considerably reducing their useful life. Also this is not a bidirectional charger.
It is also known in the state of the art that wind power, or solar energy are used for charging batteries, and an inverter is used to transform produced energy or alternating current (AC) into direct current (DC/CC) to be stored in batteries. An example of such kind of technology is offered in U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,127, issued May 5, 1992, whose main applicant is JOHNSON WOODWARD. Said patent claims a portable power supply having a rechargeable battery, and an inverter/converter unit for conversion of DC power to AC power and vice versa. Photovoltaic panels are mounted to the frame for recharging the battery. It is easy to handle this device since it is a portable one, but it has a main inconvenience: once the battery is exhausted it cannot be recharged again until panels receive sufficient light intensity as to generate needed energy to satisfy battery demands. On the other hand, the dependence of energy provided by photovoltaic panels limits the device regarding its use since it does not function with energy from other sources; also much time is required to recharge battery, in addition to the fact that part of the energy received in photovoltaic panels is not used when associated battery is totally charged and there is no storage capacity.
Technology incorporated to hybrid vehicles, electric current, can be obtained from the conventional supplier or self-generated. It tends to decrease the hydrocarbons consumption.
Japanese Patent No. 10271694, published Oct. 9, 1998, whose applicant is NISSAN MOTOR, claims an inverter/charger device using alternating current (AC) to charge batteries, and at the same time it monitors energy levels and temperature of an auxiliary battery in an electric car. This device allows charging auxiliary batteries and draining energy from a terminal, but it has the inconvenience that it is not a bidirectional one; that is to say, it works in only one way during the charging/discharging process of the energy coming from the auxiliary battery. Then an auxiliary output is required for drained energy. Also, the energy flow supplied by the battery is a maintenance flow of energy levels what makes the charging process to be slow. In addition to this, the discharging of the battery to the terminal is a slow process what causes the system to be inefficient.
It is widely known that energetic problem, particularly everything related to hydrocarbons, is a priority to be solved.